Question

Impact of mechanization on agricultural labour in india epw

Answer 1

Agricultural mechanization implies the use of various power sources and improved farm tools and equipment, with a view to reduce the drudgery of the human beings and draught animals, enhance the cropping intensity, precision and timelines of efficiency of utilisation of various crop inputs and reduce the losses at different stages of crop production. The end objective of farm mechanization is to enhance the overall productivity and production with the lowest cost of production. The contribution of agricultural mechanization has been well recognized in enhancing the production together with irrigation, biological and chemical inputs of high yielding seed varieties, fertilizers, pesticides and mechanical energy. Indian Green Revolution is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the 20 th century. It has been adopted in India on a large scale benefiting both small, medium and large size farms. Some of its aspects such as its impact on human labour employment in a labour abundant economy have always evoked sharp responses from the policy makers. Several studies have been conducted on the impact of agricultural mechanization on production, productivity, cropping intensity, human labour employment as well as income generation. Different researchers have concluded that farm mechanization enhances the production and productivity of different crops due to timeliness of operations, better quality of operations and precision in the application of the inputs. According to NCAER (1980) survey covering 815 farming households in 85 villages, the increase was 72 per cent in the case of sorghum, and 7 per cent in the case of cotton as compared to traditional bullock farms. ITES, Madras (1975) found that the productivity increase on tractor owning and hiring farms ranged between 4.1 and 54.8 per cent. The per cent increase was comparatively low on custom hiring farms as compared to tractor-owning farms due to higher level of inputs and better control on timeliness of operations. These productivity increases, thus, were attributed to higher doses of fertilizer, irrigation and mechanization. Several studies have indicated that there was significant increase in cropping intensity due to the use of tractors and irrigation as a consequence of mechanization. The increase in cropping intensity has been reported to be 165, 156 and 149 per cent respectively for tractor-owning, tractor using and bullock operated farms respectively, according to a NCAER (1980) survey. Similar results have been reported in other studies which have concluded that as a consequence of mechanization, the cropping intensity increased significantly. Furthermore, the percent gross cropped area irrigated was positively related to cropping intensity. The facilities of tubewell irrigation and mechanical power helped the farmers in raising the cropping intensity of their farms (Patil & Sirohi, 1987). Singh (2001) concluded that cropping intensity was mainly dependent on annual water availability and the farm power available. He reported that the States like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh which had higher percent irrigated area, higher doses of fertilizer and higher power availability per hectare also had higher grain yield per hectare.